Bihar floor test live updates: Vijay Kumar Sinha resigns as Speaker of Bihar Assembly

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who parted ways with the BJP and formed a government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and other parties, including Congress earlier this month, will prove his majority in the state Assembly today. However, just ahead of the floor test in Bihar Legislative Assembly, Vijay Kumar Sinha resigned as Speaker of the Bihar Assembly.

Earlier today, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the residence of RJD MLC Sunil Singh in Patna. According to initial reports, the CBI raids are in connection with the alleged land-for-job scam.

This comes days after Nitish Kumar expanded his cabinet, with the biggest chunk of seats going to alliance partner RJD. A total of 31 ministers were inducted into the cabinet on August 16. The RJD got 16 ministerial berths, followed by Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) which kept 11.

From Congress, Afaque Alam and Murari Lal Gautam were also inducted into the cabinet, while Santosh Suman was sworn in from Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha. The lone Independent MLA, Sumit Kumar Singh, also took oath as a cabinet minister.

Nitish Kumar kept Home Department, while his deputy Tejashwi Yadav got key portfolios like Health, Road Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Rural Development. Tejashwi Yadav’s brother Tej Pratap Yadav was named Bihar’s new Environment Minister.

The Bihar Grand Alliance has a combined strength of 163. Its effective strength climbed to 164 after Sumit Kumar Singh extended his support to Nitish Kumar. Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the eighth time on August 10, a day after breaking away from the BJP. His deputy Tejashwi Yadav was also sworn in the same day.